Leading

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. The act of guiding, directing, governing, or enticing; guidance. Shak.

2. Suggestion; hint; example. [Archaic] Bacon.

Part of speech: adjective (a.)

Guiding; directing; controlling; foremost; as, a leading motive; a leading man; a leading example. -- Lead"ing*ly, adv. Leading case (Law), a reported decision which has come to be regarded as settling the law of the question involved. Abbott. -- Leading motive Etym: [a translation of G. leitmotif] (Mus.), a guiding theme; in the modern music drama of Wagner, a marked melodic phrase or short passage which always accompanies the reappearance of a certain person, situation, abstract idea, or allusion in the course of the play; a sort of musical label. -- Leading note (Mus.), the seventh note or tone in the ascending major scale; the sensible note. -- Leading question, a question so framed as to guide the person questioned in making his reply. -- Leading strings, strings by which children are supported when beginning to walk. -- To be in leading strings, to be in a state of infancy or dependence, or under the guidance of others. -- Leading wheel, a wheel situated before the driving wheels of a locomotive engine.